Le train arrive à huit heures.

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Breakdown of Le train arrive à huit heures.

• arriver: to arrive
• le train: the train
• l'heure: the hour

Questions & Answers about Le train arrive à huit heures.

Why is it Le train and not just Train like in English headlines?

In normal French sentences, you almost always need an article (or another determiner) before a common noun.

• Le train = the train (a specific train people know about)
• Just Train arrive à huit heures is ungrammatical in standard French.

French doesn’t generally drop articles the way English does in titles or headlines. In a timetable you might just see Train 8420 – Arrivée : 8 h, but in a full sentence you must say Le train.

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Why is the verb arrive and not arriver?

Arriver is the infinitive (to arrive). In the sentence, the subject is le train (3rd person singular), so you need the present tense form:

• Infinitive: arriver
• Il / elle / on: arrive

So:

• Le train arrive = The train arrives / is arriving.
• Le train va arriver = The train is going to arrive.
• Le train arrivera = The train will arrive.

Using arriver here would be like saying “The train to arrive at eight o’clock” in English — not a complete, correct sentence.

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Why is the present tense (arrive) used, even though we’re talking about the future?